'Our Story', by volunteers at the Shakespeare Hospice

'Our Story' is a short film produced by the Shakespeare Hospice and their volunteers with the aim to raise awareness on childhood and teenage bereavement. It has recently been entered into the Charity Film Awards, and it would be much appreciated if you could take a minute out of your day to vote for 'Our Story' and spread the word.

[Ingrid is Kevin's youngest daughter. Kevin Ash was killed in a motorcycle accident whilst testing in South Africa over five year's ago, in January 2013. The Shakespeare Hospice, in Stratford Upon Avon where the family live, has provided support to her and the rest of the family. Ingrid has volunteered to work there to help others who have also been bereaved. They have made the film shown here to help raise awareness of the issues of bereavement in children of school age, and it has been nominated for an award.]

Kevin Ash Fund eBay listings

Please come and look at the items I am selling on eBay to help fund the girls' continuing education.

Motorcycle clothing mainly, and some bike bits, including panniers.

Please, please, please follow me (tooweeler) and watch the items and buy some, or at least make an offer. It all helps to make more space in the garage and clear stuff I really don't need.

Another year and another new market sector for BMW. The Germans rocked the motorcycle world with the S1000RR two years ago, a bike which barged into the high performance superbike sector and not so much trod on the toes of the established Japanese order, it knocked them all sideways with its ultra-high spec and searing performance.

It's rare enough for to any manufacturer to admit its new adventure bike is a rival for BMW, even when that's stating the very obvious. But Triumph has gone a step further, it's not only said the R1200GS is in its sights, we've been told some rather more contentious stuff about the German bike...

Wrench open the throttle, feel the bike beneath you writhe as it punches forward with hungry force, and you`re not thinking about breathtaking technology, taut and feline style or searing performance. It`s much simpler than that: the Ducati 1199 Panigale is just the sexiest motorcycle ever built.

If you'd like to make a donation then you can use the PayPal 'Donate' button below which will allow you to donate from your PayPal account, or via credit or debit card. A small percentage (about 3.4%) will be retained by PayPal for the service.

Kevin's family have been touched by the generosity and messages of support from people using the website and would like to express their gratitude to those who have contributed in any way.

The donations keep coming in, thank you so much, and the family especially like it when you leave a message.

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Recent Articles

We're familiar with solid-state electronics in biking. Ignition swapped points for transistors in the 1970s, then went digital in the 1990s. Now, the need for greater power, fuel efficiency and emissions control means modern engines only work with computer-controlled fuelling, ignition, combustion and exhaust. When we open the throttle we pull the strings, but the ECU calls the shots. To do it, the ECU needs an accurate view of the world. And it gets it through its sensors.

A gyroscope is a rigid circular or spherical mass rotating around an axis and for over 100 years motorcycles have come with three of them: a front wheel, a rear wheel and a crank (if you're being pedantic you could include cams, balancer shafts, gearbox, clutch etc).
The classic mechanical model of a gyroscope ranges from the very small – electrons spinning around an atom's nucleus – to the very large – the Earth.

Most of us have an innate feel for balancing a high centre of gravity on a relatively short wheelbase. Say, like a motorbike. Its centre of gravity is the point at which the sum of the surrounding mass is zero, and is largely determined by the location of the engine, the heaviest part of the package. Usually the CoG is midway between the wheels (half the wheelbase) and 60 to 75cm off the ground; just above the engine, in front of your knees.
Or at least it is until you get on.

Anyone with fingers knows bikes vibrate, sometimes strongly enough to make picking your nose impossible. But how we perceive vibration depends on its type, pattern, frequency and cause.
Bikes are subject to different types of vibration. A bumpy road creates random forced vibration at medium to high frequency (around 5-35 Hz depending on vehicle speed). It's perceived as unpleasant, as is head buffeting caused by wind turbulence. Engineers and aerodynamicists try to minimise these bad vibrations.
But we usually talk about engine vibration. There are many sources...

From the launch of Yamaha's new Super Ténéré: "The exhaust pipe connection between the two headers is discontinued to give more character to the engine. The link pipe gives a flat feeling to the curve, so removing it makes the engine a bit more peaky."
This is all about exhaust gas. When a four-stroke is tuned for power it means more revs, and so the cylinders have thousandths of second to fill with fresh mixture, compress it, burn it and pump it out again. To get enough mixture in and out, inlet valves open early and exhaust valves stay open for longer – so both are open at the same time.

Written content on this site is copyright Kevin Ash Limited. Images are copyright of the credited photographers and are used with their permission. Feel free to link to this site, with quotes or teasers if you wish, but please do not steal from it. Copying entire features or images for your own site is theft - get in touch instead, maybe I can help.